The latest version of WordPress, version 2.3 has a small security floor. Small packets of information regarding your blog setup (blog name and URI) as well as your $_SERVER dumps are sent to the “mothership” together with what plugins you have installed and your current Mysql setttings.

lead developer Matt Mullenweg says that there is no quick option to turn this feature off, but already plugins are being used to disable it.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/disable-wordpress-core-update/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/disable-wordpress-plugin-updates/

Either you use Wordpress or you don’t
Matt Mullenweg

So why is our information being sent somewhere?
They could be spying on what wordpress users are installing and researching blog setups to launch another upgrade, or it could have been a mistake in the code (mm don’t think so..). Im not what they are going to gain from retrieving our setup and database information.

Read the original statement on Wordpress 2.3

Missing: My theme (ex) on this website went missing just after i upgraded my blog to Wordress 2.3. Im totally not amused by this lack of respect. I worked hard on the theme, though i blame myself for not having a backup. What a Muppet.

Therefore you will have to wait for a new theme while my temper dampens.

TOTALLY NOT AMUSED

At last! Wordpress 2.3 is now available in Spanish. Its still in beta but is well worth a look at.

If you haven’t yet upgraded why not?… you can download the Wordpress 2.3 in English from the Wordpress site today.

What you waiting for?

Download Wordpress 2.3 in Spanish

Download Wordpress 2.3 in English

Adding Google sitemap is a must for all blogs. It will diagnose potential problems and show you how it indexes your blog pages for the world to read. More importantly yoiu can tell Google about new content on your site as soon as its been published, it will even tell you about specific search terms on your site.

How to add Google Sitemap into your blog

Of course you will need a Gmail account to sign up for your free Google sitemap.

Download and installed the Wordpress Plugin from Arne Brachhold. Once installed, click on Options > Sitemap to configure your sitemap settings. Update your options then copy the full url of the sitemap, exmaple; http://www.create-blog-sites.com/sitemap.xml and add that into your Google Sitemap account.

Submit the xml sitemap, choose your method of verification and wait!

Within about 10-20 minutes your new sitemap will be up and running and your blog pages indexed by Google.

Once you have your sitemap working, you will need to know about visitors to your blog! Read my post about Adding Google Analytics to a Wordpress Blog, its quick and easy!

There are two simple ways to adding your google analytics into any wordpress blog. You can either add the script into footer.php, just before the end body tag “</body>” or dowload a very simple to use google analytics wordpress plugin.

I would recommend the plugin from Rich Boakes making it simple to add Google Analytics to your WordPress blog. Install the plugin and enter your analytics account code. It could’nt be more easy!

If you are looking for a hosting company to host your wordpress blog, Sorted Sites offer a quick realiable service.

Your new blog together with any chosen wordpress theme can be easily setup and running within hours! All you have to do is choose your template and start blogging!

Idea for businesses who wish to promote the latest company news and developments.

So how much does this cost?

Well, you could go for a free wordpress blog from wordpress, but you would be using a subdomain of wordpress, for example, myblog.wordpress.com. But you would have to search through pages of forums just to make a simple change in your code .

At Sorted Sites, they offer a complete package that inlcudes,

• Registration of a new Internet domain for your blog
• Blog design based upon WordPress templates (1000’s to choose from)
• Customisation of your blog to your branding
• Registration of your blog on blog directories
• 1 year’s hosting of your blog on our servers
• 1 year’s technical support for your blog
• Monthly newsletter about business blogging
• Optional extra ‘plug-ins’ to further customise your blog’s performance
• Optional regular updates to your blog by our professional bloggers

All of this for just 500 Euros, yes thats all!

Contact the team at Sorted Sites and start blogging today.